Comments

Quodlibet:
AfterBite! That’s what that stuff is called. Yup, I have a small tube and I’ve been using it.

I had no idea that the wedding this past weekend was going to be outside, so I was totally unprepared– no sunblock, no bug spray, no anti-itch stuff, etc. If I had known, I would have ditched the cute little clutch purse for something more practical. ;)

Katrina:
Unless I’ve taken to being proactive in my mod duties while I’m in a allergy med induced fog, I think it was Oniongirl who posted the list of unknowns. :)

Very careful *hugs* for Audley. I hate mosquitoes (nasssty little flying dirty hypodermic needles), but they pale in comparison with chiggers, each one burning with the Evil of a thousand horses. I don’t in general approve of driving species to extinction, but for them, I’d make an exception, if only I could think of a way to accomplish it.
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Audley, yeah I caught that after posting. That’s what I get for trying to follow TET from my itty-bitty netbook.

Once upon a time, they offered Benadryl in tubes like your ammonia stuff. It worked much better and didn’t smell like litterbox. I haven’t seen it around lately, but that’s something else to keep an eye out for. Ah, look for the “Benadryl Itch Relief Stick” and you may find it.

Today I’m all all drugged up on antihistamines for actual allergies rather than bites. We’ve had red air quality alerts all week and my normal daily meds haven’t been keeping up.

I may have to look into this AfterBite stuff to keep around the house. I don’t react horribly to all types of bites, but when I do, it’s utter misery.

A couple years ago, we got an infestation of bed bugs and….*shudder* It was gradual at first, probably because only a few managed to find their way into the house. For ages, we couldn’t find any evidence of them (they were hiding in the wall paneling when we humans were active and awake because they’re evil little bastards). I’d look and look, and figured we must have had a spider hatching or something. Set out spider traps, etc.

As time went on, I was getting more and more bites as they multiplied, and husband got a few more as well. It was so painful and irritating that I literally began dreading going to sleep.

It wasn’t until one weekend when we were staying up late that I spotted one coming out of the wall to devour my tender flesh. I don’t think I slept that night; we stripped a sorts of linens and washed them in super hot water, put the feet of bed in square paint cups, wiped all the wooden bedroom furniture down with Murphy’s Oil Soap. Thankfully one pass by an exterminator took care of them, but memories of months of bites I was helpless to prevent are awful.

We had some glitches earlier — it looks like TechGuy was tweaking the theme code, giving my very own private copy. That’s a precursor to being able to dive in and screw it up without mangling everyone else’s site! Yay!

Quick question about TET: are people seeing performance problems as it gets bigger? Do I need to rethink the maximum size?

Also, there’s another option: I can paginate comments, so I could say, for instance, each page only holds 250 comments. Do people hate that idea?

The most important aspect of pagination is not comments per page, but how easy it is to jump from one page of comments to another. As a minimum, links to all other pages – not just the next page and the previous page – should appear at the top and bottom of every page.
Consistent pagination would be better than the ad-hoc pagination you’ve done in the past.

Entirely TET-bankrupt, as seems to be my constant condition these days, but I want to brag for a second: I was on this week’s Savage Love Podcast! You know the feedback calls Dan plays at the end of each episode? Mine was the first of those on this week’s ‘cast: I’m the guy saying a gay kid shouldn’t have to resort to insurance fraud (throwing his laptop into a lake and claiming it was stolen) to avoid having his mom find his porn stash.

Also, bankrupt or no, I see on my screen references to Audley, mosquitoes, and Benadryl… and can only offer careful air-hugs for whatever that combination of things might indicate.

Finally, this seems like a baby step in the right direction. They should start way earlier than 6th grade, of course, and screw the parental opt-out for birth control info, but still, the right direction, IMHO.

And in a scrambling attempt to reconcile the obvious “we believe in small government and states’ rights except when we don’t” contradiction, our friend Bryan Fischer of the SPLC hate group the American Family Association has taken a shot at rationalization.

Just as “the American people” is really code for “our-type-of-Christians who hate gay people, the poor, women, and minorities” it turns out that believing in state’s rights means that the majority of states can dictate to the minority with great self righteousness.

So, I come here after missing the last two threads and the first thing I see is a reference to mosquitoes. Someone else sharing my love-hate relationship with them? I absolutely hate them, but they (especially some nasty ones that leave giant purple bruises and scars on my legs that don’t seem to lose intensity for a week or two or more) seem to be quite in love with me. I swear, they sense me the moment I step into the garden. I just approached the hedge I was supposed to cut and I had three bites before even starting. My legs look like someone was testing biochemical weapons on them. Ugh, I hate mosquitoes.

I’ve been having a major increase in pain the past few weeks, and it’s making everything more difficult. I’m having a lot of aphasia–the ‘brain fog’ part of fibro that is So Much Fun.

I’ve been using up all of my processing power at work, and I just haven’t been able to focus on reading/writing when I get home. (Lots of TV — I re-watched Torchwood & the entire span til present of Rizzoli & Isles (awesome!)).

So I may be scarce for a while until I get a bit more functional. *hugs*, chocolate, tea, etc to everyone!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
p.s. the preview at the bottom instead of a separate page is WONDERFUL!

Mr. Sleight of Hand, this bloke is interested in some ideas compatible with yours I think – he’s not a magician, though (he’s a physics teacher (a very good one!)) – so I imagine he may have thought about some comparable problems and had some relevant experience:

(btw the preview sayspromises me that this just shows up as a link, not embedded – I really hope I don’t screw this up … )

I’ve been watching the economy turn into a gooey pile of fear and recrimination, which has meant spending much more time on financial news sites than is my norm or wont, and I have an observation:

On these sites, some idjit trader will merely voice his opinion and it will be reported as news! No evidence. No analysis. An opinion pulled directly from an alternative orifice is suddenly plastered all over the front page of a prestigious financial website!

It kind of explains a couple of things:

1)Why markets are so damned volatile and emotion driven.
2)Why business/glibertarian types seem to just assume that their unsupported opinion is worth even two stinking turds.

The key thing that most people don’t get about the stock market is that most of it is gambling. It some cases they may be pretty safe bets, but you’re still wagering, in effect, on whether or not the perceived value of a company (regardless of its actual value) will rise or fall (depending on the nature of your investment).

I’ve actually taken classes on options trading and the exchanges in general, and yes, you’re right: one trader’s opinion can become fact in a shockingly easy way. IIRC, last year some guy at a mutual fund left a digit off a sell order for millions of shares and, when combined with automated systems, tanked a company’s stock value in a matter of minutes.

Lucky for me, all my retirement investment is tied up in this shit. </sarcasm>

Re pagination – noooo! Easy for me to say because I’m not particularly having reloading problems, but I would hate not to be able to find a comment that someone else is referring back to – which we wouldn’t be able to do across multiple pages so well, if the screen doesn’t tell us which page we’re on?

If someone just gives a comment number, you can do a “find on this page” and that’s much easier. Any way round this?

Or have an option “show all on one page” so we can choose, that would be nice!

Quick question about TET: are people seeing performance problems as it gets bigger? Do I need to rethink the maximum size?

I’ve seen problems every time it approaches 400 comments. It takes a long time to reload and tends to hang.

Also, there’s another option: I can paginate comments, so I could say, for instance, each page only holds 250 comments. Do people hate that idea?

Hate the idea. I don’t like the comment numbers being screwed up and how is this really a solution? What’s going to happen when a front page thread goes to a 1,000 comments? Isn’t the main point that the server should be able to cope?

That’s kind of funny, I was just thinking how much less issue this thread is giving me than on the old site. Not that I oppose changes if they help others get on here, just that I haven’t been having any.

workshops she ran had an exercise where different groups and people were given different and incomplete versions of a problem. They could literally not solve the problems without communicating what they each new to the others

I’ve participated in similar things which is where I got the idea from. Also I like that the kids, if working in groups, will not only get to learn a neat trick but teach it to other kids. Which, hopefully, spreads the joy of learning around.

Dhorvath, OM:

Teachers can be quite busy though, so try to keep it simple to learn.

Don’t I know it! My girlfriend is a teacher so I know first hand (well I guess second hand but anyway) how crazy busy they can be. The goal is to make them easy to learn/perform without them being too simple/obvious to figure out. A little challenge, for the students, is good but too much for the teacher means they’ll never touch the thing.

opposablethumbs:

this bloke is interested in some ideas compatible with yours I think – he’s not a magician, though (he’s a physics teacher (a very good one!)…

Sweet! Thank-you so much for that. I’ll try and get in touch with him. And I love physics!

Currently there are relatively few antiviral therapeutics, and most which do exist are highly pathogen-specific or have other disadvantages. We have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. We have created DRACOs and shown that they are nontoxic in 11 mammalian cell types and effective against 15 different viruses, including dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenaviruses, Guama bunyavirus, and H1N1 influenza. We have also demonstrated that DRACOs can rescue mice challenged with H1N1 influenza. DRACOs have the potential to be effective therapeutics or prophylactics for numerous clinical and priority viruses, due to the broad-spectrum sensitivity of the dsRNA detection domain, the potent activity of the apoptosis induction domain, and the novel direct linkage between the two which viruses have never encountered.

Okay, so the “says” in the author line really annoys the shit out of me. I know someone posted how to get rid of it, but damned if I can find it now (and there’s no way I will be able to figure it out for myself).

some idjit trader will merely voice his opinion and it will be reported as news! No evidence. No analysis. An opinion pulled directly from an alternative orifice is suddenly plastered all over the front page of a prestigious financial website!

It kind of explains a couple of things:

1)Why markets are so damned volatile and emotion driven.
2)Why business/glibertarian types seem to just assume that their unsupported opinion is worth even two stinking turds.

That’s always been the way financial types talk. They’re the Masters of the Universe and they know everything. Plus their shit doesn’t stink.

Incidentally, if anyone ever wants citations for the economic bleats I make, just ask. I’ll be happy to ignore accommodate you.

Meanwhile, in the Careful What You Wish For Department, the new text format. Hmmm. I think the column might be too narrow for this size of text. And this two-line format for the poster and time stamp is ugly too. I am digging the alternating colors and comment numbers though.

Meta note: I am by no means keeping a close eye on these things, but after seeing PZ’s comments on the “So so true” thread, I had to compare comment totals on the two versions here and at Sb. Possibly for the first time, a thread here is beating the one at Sb.

Attendees at a nationalist, right-wing concert in Germany were duped into wearing souvenir T-shirts that at first bared a pro-nationalist stance and symbology but later revealed an anti-far right message offering assistance after they had been washed.

I think the correct term here is

oh face

Brother Ogvorbis (not sure why I am still trying, but what the hell, right?)says

Hello! I’m having some weirdness with pharyngula at work, where some threads suddenly get caught in the filter and tagged as “adult” and blocked. TET and the Y chromosome were banned yesterday, but all the others were OK. I am quite puzzled because Ophelia’s long twatcuntbitch thread wasn’t blocked, so it can’t just be swearwords. (My excuse for pharynguling at work, btw, is pretty much this: http://xkcd.com/303/ – except not “compiling” but “waiting for SAS run to finish”.)

@Tigger & others with big bumpy swelled up insect bites – take an antihistamine! Also try SOOV – it’s got a topical anaesthetic, good for bites and sunburn. I am very lucky in that I react extremely mildly to Australian mosquitos, but I’ve had bad reactions in other places. Also bedbugs are the worst ever for me. Ghastly things.

The gauntlets I give the kid who is the fireman (locomotive fireman) are gloves that have been used for a couple of months and are thoroughly impregnated with grease and coal dust. That’s about as far as I can go.

One request: can we please have ragged-right text? This justified text is awful to read. Thank you!

PZ —Would it be helpful to have someone count and collate the requests for style/functionality changes in The Complaints Department thread? If so, I volunteer to write up the requests along with the number of people who asked for them so you can prioritize. If you see this, lemme know and tell me when you’d like it so I can set myself a deadline.

I never seem to get around to catching up with TET so I am just jumping in! It’s been awhile since I last sporadically commented so let me re-reintroduce myself. Even though I don’t comment a lot I feel like part of the community here and want to join in more. I have more in common with you folks than most of the people I know in meat-space.

Also – fannypacks?! They will always make me think of the sunburned tourist families in Disneyland who all wear matching tie-die t-shirts. And have leashes on their toddlers.

I don’t understand why men won’t just carry a bag. I’ve carried a Man Purse for 20 years. European guys often carry over-the-shoulder messenger bags. Sometimes you need to take your shit with you, and seeing guys trying to cram everything into their pockets just makes them look silly.

I’ve been watching the economy turn into a gooey pile of fear and recrimination, which has meant spending much more time on financial news sites than is my norm or wont, and I have an observation:

Yeah, me too.

At first it was my 401(K) plan dying again. That isn’t a problem now. “It’s dead Jim.”

Mostly because if the economy craters again, Obama probably won’t be reelected. Historically when the economy tanks, the party in power loses. That is exactly how Obama got elected and how the Tea Party took over the House.

Right now, the next Presidency is the GOP’s to lose. If they could field a candidate that didn’t look like a Cthonic Undead Creature from beyond Formless Chaos, they will have it.

yup, it’s my purse. I don’t call it that of course, but it functions the same.
:-)
Of course what I never got was women who carry these cavernous purses/shoulder bag type things and have the nerve to call them a “pocket book”. (okay mostly that was my mom and her friends, but I’ve heard others do the same.)

I haven’t seen anything intelligent on how to fix the economy either. Obama did all the conventional things as did the fed reserve. It looks like no one knows how to fix it.

Actually, Obama had the right idea, but the rethugs and their “balanced budget/deficit reduction” bullshit wouldn’t let him do what was necessary for as long as was necessary. They are forcing a recession, and everybody and their brother should be calling them on it. First, get people back to work. Then, and only then, worry about the deficit, and do so by taxing the rich.

After repeated references to Firefly on TET and even on some other threads, I decided to give it a try. Now I need a quick bit of advice from the Firefly fans of the Pharyngulariat.

So far, I’ve watched the pilot plus the first two regular episodes together with my wife. Mrs. True generally enjoys the same things I do – we both like Eureka, for example – but she can’t stand horror movies.

(Minor spoiler alert)

The problem came with the second regular episode, “Bushwhacked.” The guy who became a Reaver really freaked her out. We watched it last night, and even today she doesn’t want to go into the basement by herself.

What do you all think? Should I just watch the rest of Firefly without her, or are there just specific episodes she should avoid? She really liked the pilot and the first regular episode, and she’d enjoy watching more as long as it doesn’t scare her too much.

A fanny pack is a critical component of my photo gear. With it, I can have an extra lens or three readily available, plus a flash, my lens cap, extra memory cards, a lens cloth, and a bottle of soda. And I don’t need to keep shrugging off my backpack or finding a clean place to set it down.

On the other hand, at school, I’ll generally be carrying a bag of some sort at all times. (One of the advantages of being a student or an IT professional: even men are expected to carry bags.)

I think the biggest criterion, no pun intended, for a ‘man bag’ is its size. If it’s not big enough to carry a laptop, it’s a manly-man no-no. In my case, my bag needs to be big enough to carry a laptop and books for at least four courses, and maybe even a camera.

PS: I think a messenger bag would probably be a good way to go, but I’m afraid I’m going to crush my laptop, especially with the multiple huge books. Suggestions?

my “aunt” was the worst offender. Her ‘pocketbook’ at one time was a secondhand Pan-Am bag that seemed to have everything but the kitchen sink. Some of the more unusual items were limes in a big plastic bag cuz of course the bars didn’t have the kind she liked, and chopsticks, which seemed to have 101 uses ranging from fashion to cleaning.

If you’re worried about the size of a bag and manly-man no-nos, you need to get over it. Seriously. Just get a soft leather briefcase with an over-the-shoulder strap and a separate compartment for the laptop. Any airport is full to the brim with men carrying these, and I take mine everywhere.

Right! Bubba and I always called that “dad wallet.” He shoves everything in there, business cards, warranty cards, “important” receipts, and you name it. But money, coin and paper in his pants pockets.

if it doesnt fit in a wallet a plastic shopping bag works fine. I quite often use a redneck wallet when my regular gets worn. That is a sandwich size ziplock. That usually embarrasses whomever I am with that a new wallet magically appears after a couple of weeks.

Anything too small to hold a laptop computer is going to look too feminine. And anything that looks like it was meant to carry a laptop is going to make you look like a math major. Invest in leather. A good litmus test for a bag is to ask yourself: If I saw this sitting unattended at an airport, would I call security, or want to steal it? If theft is the answer, that’s your bag.

I used to do that occasionally. Now, I’ve upgraded to the $0.50 reusable “canvas” bags Walmart sells at the register. They’re fairly sturdy, last for quite a while, can be washed a few times if needed, and if they do crap out, oh well, you’re out half a buck.

Actually, Obama had the right idea, but the rethugs and their “balanced budget/deficit reduction” bullshit wouldn’t let him do what was necessary for as long as was necessary. They are forcing a recession…

Most people caught that. The conventional Keynesian wisdom is:

1. Government is supposed to spend during a recession to stimulate the economy.

2. The federal reserve is supposed to lower interest rates and expand the money supply.

We did all that. Interest rates are at zero. The FR did two rounds of quantitative easing which expands the money supply.

It helped but not enough. We are 0.8% growth for 2011 and the economy really needs at least 3% annualized. There doesn’t seem to be a credible plan B.

The Tea Partiers were just nuts. They wanted to cut spending drastically. Most spending is social security, medicare, medicaid, and the military. They do have a point that our deficits and national debt are too large and growing rapidly. The worst time to fix those is in the middle of a recession.

FWIW, I did find some interesting stats. There is a very high correlation between high taxes and well off societies. Eight of the wealthiest societies are also in the top 15 in taxes. The US comes in at 15th in taxes and near the bottom of the top 15 in well being.

Clever boy; that was funny. But I actually have—my best friend will have sole access to my digital devices and their passwords. He may enjoy my perversions as he sees fit so long as no one else knows about them.

Have no fear, Audley; cicely is here! I use a fanny pack (often turned around as more of a pouchy pack) when I’m going to be somewhere where I particularly don’t want to heave around the Full Purse. Hang fashionability! Fashion is what people say it is!

And my fanny, also, is packed (now that the Divot has filled in); I have my own, built-in bustle. :)
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Hi, Ariel from Canada, and welcome in. Or back in. Whichever.
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Never been a fan of fanny packs. They always look like one’s belt has swallowed a large rodent.

No prob! Just get (or paint) one with scales and make a snake of it.
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I don’t understand why men won’t just carry a bag.

The Husband does, and has for at least 20 years. He needs it to carry his tools and techtoys with him wherever he goes. Oh, yes; and also his wallet.
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yup, it’s my purse. I don’t call it that of course, but it functions the same.

We refer to it as his Man Bag. *snicker*
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ButIsItTrue, IMO “Bushwhacked” is far and away the creepiest episode. Some parts of Serenity could be a problem.
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I’m jumping the gun a little bit because I’m feeling feverish and achy and I have to catch a plane to Norway tomorrow, so I think I need a good night’s sleep. I’m afraid I might be kinda messed up this weekend, which is not good.

I finally just started carrying a purse this year. I say it’s because of getting diligent about carrying the epi-pen around, but it is convenient. The sad thing is that after I bought it, I realized it’s almost exactly the same as the one my mom uses.

I have one purse by this person. I LOVE it, but it turned out to have a shorter strap than I’m used to so it isn’t really comfortable to carry around as a shoulder bag (and the strap is too long to be a handbag), so I only carry it when I’m really wanting to show off. :)